9. Fishbone Diagrams
a. A fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram (also called a cause-and-effect diagram) is a total quality management process improvement technique.
1) Fishbone diagrams are useful in studying causation (why the actual and desired situations differ).
b. This format organizes the analysis of causation and helps to identify possible interactions among causes.
1) The head of the skeleton contains the statement of the problem.
2) The principal classifications of causes are represented by lines (bones) draw diagonally from the heavy horizontal line (the spine).
3) Smaller horizontal lines are added in their order of probability in each classification.
c. Below is a generic fishbone diagram.